


A Breath of Summer

by Idrelle_Miocovani



Series: Idrelle's Holiday Fanfic Gifts 2017 [8]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Kisses, Love, Magic Butterflies, Romance, Snow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-30
Updated: 2017-12-30
Packaged: 2019-02-24 08:37:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13210017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Idrelle_Miocovani/pseuds/Idrelle_Miocovani
Summary: Sene and Solas planned to take a vacation, but their plans are halted by a blizzard in the mountains. Now Solas has a surprise for her.





	A Breath of Summer

**Author's Note:**

  * For [galadrieljones](https://archiveofourown.org/users/galadrieljones/gifts).



> This is a gift for the marvelous [@galadrieljones](http://galadrieljones.tumblr.com/). Sene and Solas have such a wonderful relationship, and I hope I captured them! Happy New Year. 
> 
> Sene belongs to Gala. You can read about her and Solas' story in [The Dead Season](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7468581/chapters/16972533).
> 
> Thanks for reading!

The sky is grey and heavy, the kind of heaviness that only comes when it is choked with snow. It has been snowing for days now and Sene can’t remember the last time she saw the sun. She stands at the edge of the cliff, knee-deep in the snow, surveying the forest beyond. She and Solas were making their way into the foothills of the Dales when the blizzard hit. They took refuge in a cave, with only Solas’ magic and their own company to keep them warm. While it was an undeniably pleasant way to spend their days, they couldn’t stay there forever. And now they are on the move again. 

Sene sighs, eyeing her breath as it rises in the air. She feels a slight pressure on her head and she reaches up to brush a layer of fluffy snowflakes off the top of her hood. Even through her gloved hands, the fabric feels frozen. Like her face. Like her hair. Like every part of her. 

Her ears prick up when she hears the soft swish of someone forcing their way through a snow drift. “You know, Solas,” she says, pulling her fur-lined cloak tightly around her, “when I said let’s take a vacation, I had something _completely_ different in mind.” 

He chuckles and rests a hand on her shoulder. “I can imagine.” 

Sene thinks back to the previous night, of the warm glow of the flames, the feel of soft furs against her naked body, of the sweat on her brow and the heat of his skin. She smiles and peers coyly at him. “Oh, I know.” 

The back of her neck itches. She hates wearing hoods—she has too much hair for it to be comfortably contained. She reaches through her hair to scratch the itch and a red curl gets in her mouth. She pulls it away, making a face. “You do realize,” she continues, “that by the time we reach Lydes, we’ll have to turn around and come right back?” 

“Perhaps we should take a ship next time.” 

“That’s what I said we should have done in the first place!” Sene exclaims. She pokes his shoulder. “You were the one who wanted to do the trip by foot. You wouldn’t let me convince you otherwise.” 

Solas laughs. He’s been laughing a lot lately. It’s quite different from the solemnity that weighed on him when they first met, when this whole nutty adventure with the Inquisition began—if it can even be called an adventure. “True,” he says. “Because personally getting lost in the mountains with you is far more appealing than being confined to a tiny cabin on the high seas.” 

“There’s no blizzards on the sea,” Sene says. 

“But there are storms,” he quips. 

“It’s faster,” Sene points out. 

“And then our time alone would come to an end far more quickly,” he counters. 

Sene smirks. “I see. You’re that desperate to have me all to yourself.” 

He shrugs and pulls her close. “I am, if anything, honest.” 

Sene buries her head in his shoulder, arms wrapping around him, drinking in the scent of fur and wool and _him._ Despite the blizzard and the less than ideal conditions, these past few days have been their own kind of bliss. Just him and her, alone and on their own for the first time in months. It brings her such a warm, bubbly sense of happiness that she can almost forget about the tips of her fingers and toes going numb. 

“There’s been so much going on,” she says quietly. “I can hardly breathe. If Josephine doesn’t need something, then Cullen does. And if Cullen doesn’t need something, then Leliana has something up her sleeve. It’s hard to know how to put the important things first when _everything_ is important.”   

“I know, vhenan.” He kisses her cheek, his lips warm and comforting. 

Sene clings to him and watches the snow fall. The large, thick flakes dance in the wind, blowing about in undulating patterns, mesmerizing to the eye. There’s something beautiful about a world encased in snow and ice, Sene thinks. Pristine, undisturbed, silent beauty. Even though the sky is grey, there is beauty in that, too. For when it snows, she cannot see the Breach. When it snows, the world returns to normal. 

“This is good,” she says after a moment. “Maybe this is exactly what we needed. Not some stressful trip to an overrated city in Orlais.” 

“Happy accidents,” Solas murmurs. “Here, vhenan. I have something for you.” 

Sene raises an eyebrow. “For me?”    

Solas pulls away from her and raises a hand. He slowly pulls off the glove, his skin startling pale against the backdrop of the snow. Sene watches in curiosity as his hand begin to glow, his magic manifesting as a warm, golden mist. As he waves his hand through the frozen air, her eyes widen, her lips parted in awe. The magic hangs in the air, gently folding inwards on itself as the summoned wisps transform into butterflies, as radiant as the sun on a hot summer’s day. Sene gasps as the wisps dance playfully around her, perching on her shoulders, her arms, her head, before taking off again. She turns in a circle, snow bunching around her feet as she moves, and reaches out to them. The butterflies spiral through the falling snow, trailing light and magic. One lands on her nose and she feels the warmth siphoning off of it. She giggles, scrunching up her face and it flies away, its wings brushing her skin like a kiss. 

Solas smiles as he watches Sene and the butterflies. She grins at him, reveling in the magic, in this unexpected taste of summer. A butterfly lands on her hand and she brings it up to her face. She stares at it, breath taken away by the way it lights up everything around it. An idea forms in her head—such a silly idea—and she leans forwards and gently places a kiss on the wisp’s wings. It feels like a breath of wind on a warm summer’s day, and she laughs as the butterfly takes flight, twirling around her head until she becomes dizzy just watching it. 

Sene wraps her arms around Solas’ neck and kisses him soundly. “That,” she says against his lips, “was _marvelous.”_  

“I’m glad you approve, vhenan.” 

She grins and pulls him to her. “Well, it's all in the little things, isn’t it?” 

She kisses him again. For a moment, time seems to stop as the butterflies dance around them, spinning and spiraling, illuminating them with their magic. 

The snow continues to fall.


End file.
